"I hadn't seen Sandi before so when I came to see it, it had already rained, I was disappointed. it kind of caved in on one side," she said.

Pinak said because workers started with soggy sand last year, that made it difficult for the tree to stay put. Sculptors had to come in and re-sculpt parts of the sand structure.

But this year, the city took extra measures to preserve Sandi's shape. They ensured that the sand -- which comes from a quarry in Miami -- was allowed to dry out for several days before sculpting with it.

"This year, we brought the sculptors in a week early. So this sculpture has been done for about a week," she said. "The longer it stays out in the sun, the more it bakes."

And the stronger it holds together. The professional sand sculptors, who are based in Sarasota, even made a special concoction to further protect Sandi tree.

"At the very end, they take a spritzer of some type of elmer's glue and water and they just spritz it, to give it a finish," Pinak said.

We also asked about a possible tent as an option to protect Sandi, but city officials are not sure if a big enough tent is even feasible. Pinak believes the tree is tough enough to stay big and beautiful this Christmas season.

"I think this year we had some really innovative ways to meet the challenges from last year, and we'll continue to look at -- as we progress through the years -- how it worked out," she said.